Saturday, June 19, 2010

Block leave has started and we are headed out to camp in Utah for 6 days and 5 nights. (Beware burglars, I am leaving behind a gigantic pitbull that will eat you alive!)

Remember, they have no showers. My inlaws got a solar shower for me, and there is one in the RV, but Gunner keeps telling me it is for emergencies.

I consider my hair an emergency. If I don't wash my hair every day, my curls will be in HUGE knots! Wouldn't you consider that an emergency?

I'm sure we will have a lot of fun, laughs, and memories made. I also hope that the whining and crying is kept to a minimum.

Right now I just want to crawl back in bed and go to sleep. Gunner is running around the house singing and dancing, excited beyond belief. If we were going to Hawaii, I would be doing that. Camping with no showers? Sorry, I am trying!

It's going to be fun. It's going to be fun. It's going to be fun.

BTW, I am watching a taped version of the Today show, and the skimming of ATM cards makes me nervous!

Friday, June 18, 2010

My husband is a Regular, so Regular Jane day it was today. Of course since I have always wanted to join the military, I jumped at the chance. All it did was to make my desire stronger to join, but with three kids, a husband who is gone all the time, and the fact that I am somewhat opinionated and strong-willed, I have to settle for events like this.

We did a PT test complete with a run.

We threw grenades. We road marched. Sang cadences.

This is Em waiting for us to road march, trying on her brother's astronaut helmet.

We visited the AWT. (Automatic Weapons Trainer)

Guns. My family fell in love with it. Abs really fell in love with it.

The smile on Em's face is priceless. We got to shoot 240 machine guns and M16's.

I liked the machine gun the best.

Gunner wouldn't have been a cool uncle if he didn't hook up our nephew. He LOVED it.

Abs was constantly on the guns, screaming out "I love guns" and "This is awesome" or "Can I PLEASE go again?".

The Soldiers loved her enthusiasm.

When everyone was done, the Soldiers that had been waiting for a chance to get on the guns too, jumped in next to Abs.

Erin told me about the Air & Space Museum at Peterson AFB, and since my nephew is in town, we headed over there to check it out. (Plus after taking 4 kids to Em's orthodontist appointment I needed somewhere for them to be outside & it's free!)

We bypassed the museum so that we could checkout the planes first. The kids loved it.

Junior just liked to lie under the wings of the planes and sing songs about them.

When we got back into the museum, the kids looked around for a bit, and then the docent put on a Magic School Bus video on flight so that I could look around more. The docent was so knowledgeable, I could have talked to him all day. I was the only one walking around for a good half hour, so I got a private tour and heard all his stories about people, planes, and military history. By the time the movie was over, people showed up to tour, and my private tour was over, so we headed home. If you have boys (or an Abs), this is a great place to visit!

Thursday, June 17, 2010

ABW told Junior he had a tree in his ear and I needed to clean it. I cleaned them out and he started sobbing "My tree is dead, you killed my tree, how could you?" over and over again.

ABW gets to play Army tomorrow and Gunner gets to watch. I can't wait! Unfortunately shooting a tank didn't make the list of things to do. Wimps, I am sure I am a good shot!

ABW watched Gunner try to get Junior out of the tub last night, but he wouldn't budge because his hands weren't wrinkled yet.....or "moldy" as he calls it. "I can't get out until I am moldy!"

ABW just got baseball tickets for Gunner, my nephew and Em. It's Jimmy Buffet night so I was hoping for free margaritas for the adults, but it was only leis for everyone, so I opted to stay home with the kids that didn't want to go.

ABW Laughed when Gunner told her what happened on the way home from the airport with Jr & abs.They found a roll of paper towels in the back seat and decided that they wanted the cardboard roll.Gunner wasn't paying attention until he saw the entire backseat covered with unrolled paper towels and a fight started over the emptyroll.Trying to be diplomatic he cut it in half. I would have taken the roll and kept it.

ABW is HOME. I left hundred degree temperatures to sit in 50 degree temps, windows open, laundry going, and an entire house to clean. I'll never blame a dirty house on the kids again, only on their dad!

ABW believes that someone (Gunner) was messing with her netflix queue as Legion and Ninja Assassin are arriving on Monday. What happened to Dear John & Memoirs of a Geisha (Gunner)? Did you forget (Gunner) that we will be home early next week?

I also posted that on Gunner's facebook, and he responded with:Gunner Someone (Gunner) thought you could watch all the sappy chick flix when someone (Gunner) was deployed for a year.

Abs flew in on Tuesday. She hit the ground running. I went the entire time in Texas without coffee, but now I am having to down a pot each morning in order to keep up.

Last night Gunner and I had just settled down to go to sleep. I was almost to the point where I was passed out.

I hear a crash.

Gunner gets up and finds Abs awake and getting into things. He sends her back to bed, because it wasn't even midnight yet.

We get to sleep, but Gunner had to be up at 3 this morning to send some Soldiers off to school. He wakes up to find Abs awake. (I'm sure the minute we fell asleep that she was up and wandering around, just being quieter this time.)

He sends her back to sleep. I woke up this morning when my cell phone rang. Abs was calling me to see if I was awake. I started to panic thinking that she was calling other people, so I dragged my tired self out of bed.

Put on a pot of coffee, dragged Abs off the wii, and gave her her medicine.

Found an egg in the sink. An egg? No clue.

Booted up the computer, and turned on the Today show. Heard Abs knocking on doors trying to sell Sammy to unsuspecting sleeping siblings/cousin.

Put the dog outside.

Made first cup of coffee. Heard a crash. Went around corner to find Abs into my teaching books (which is fine), but she had knocked off half a shelf (how?) and was sitting in the dog bed (yuck) and moving the books around with her feet to see if she could teach her feet to be as strong and as independent as her hands.

I told her she could practice with her own things in her own room and to use her independent hands to clean up the mess.

Mess cleaned up, Abs is in room. Finally sit down with coffee to check email, blogs, and I hear footsteps running through the house. I go to Abs room to find that she has swiped permanent markers to "color" with. I confiscate, she balks, assuring me she will keep it on paper and nothing else. She hands them over.

My husband is usually not in a great location, so our internet time and phone time is very limited, maybe once every week or two for about ten minutes.

I do write letters, but not as often as I should because I always choose deployments as a time to make major life changes, you know, like have a baby or change careers.

This time, I might actually be able to keep up with letters.

Does your husband write back?

Gunner is pretty good about writing, sometimes. Maybe once he reads this post, he will realize how important those letters are to me. Nothing can change my day like a letter. Sure emails are great, and a lot of time if I have a question it is time sensitive and I need a reply. But nothing replaces that letter.

My friend Peggy came up with a solution for the kids that works well too. She sends Gunner pre-addressed postcards to mail back to the kids. He tears out three, writes a short note, and then sends them off courtesy of free mail. I collect them on the other end and hand them out once they all arrive so no one is left out.

They carry them around, tuck them into their books as bookmarks, hang them on their wall, or just read them over and over and over. Emails don't have the same effect on them.

So how many letters do you write? (I will probably be lucky to do one every week or two, seriously, no major changes, yet, but there are still three kiddos to take care of!)

This is how I found Abs on Saturday when I picked her up. Happy and collecting grasshoppers.

I saw Em first, but of course she is too cool for pictures these days. Em had a GREAT time. She couldn't wait to tell me though all the things her sister had done wrong. It was like she spent her week taking notes on her sister so she could relay it back to me. Ugh.

She started with the two feet of mud on her head and Ab's refusal to get out of the mud pit during Battle of the Brumbies. I talked to Ab's counselor who told me that Abs was a blessing. Really? Someone else loves her?

They had an end of the session program and showed a quick blurb from the highlights CD. I want to go to Camp Pine Cove.

Em and her counselor.

They both had a great time. I asked Abs counselor if she slept okay. The kid slept through the night every.single.night. I guess I need to recreate camp at my house so she can sleep here.

They did have a couple of problems with Abs, but it didn't sound like anything too serious. They are both signed up for next year. I don't know who is more excited, me or them?

About Me

We have survived four year long deployments--one to Bosnia and three to Iraq. We have been married for almost 17 years and have three children--Em, Abs, and Junior. Gunner is currently deployed for the 5th time to Afghanistan. We are fast approaching the year mark, and then we will focus on the prize--retirement!